Though I absolutely hate military life, parades are pretty nice things to watch. They're actually pretty cool.

I'm not talking about small, internal parades within units like CO Parade, First Parade, and stuff (unless there's a civilian or new trainee/recruit watching me do it xD). I'm talking about public ones, like NDP, Istana Changing of Guards Ceremony, etc, or passing-out parades where a few selected/invited civilians get to see.

I take a lot of pride when I'm part of a contingent which execute drills together, in synchronisation. That's why every time when Bronco Platoon 2 performs a drill, I'm fucking enthu. Unless, of course, it's immediately after a route march (like, after 16km, every one was dying). I was even more enthu when we were executing the Clearing Arms drill which had so many bloody steps and so hard to execute properly. But after a lot of practice, no other platoon can do it like Platoon 2. Even the other platoon commanders were impressed ah. So despite everyone not liking the platoon sergeant, we gotta admit that he's the best drill instructor in the platoon. Before he came, our drills were like nonsense, lol.

One more cool thing about parades is the Colours Party and the GOH contingent. Awesome-looking Colours and awesome-looking No. 1 uniforms. Seriously, after watching NDP, I feel like being part of the GOH contingent. But sadly, I hear it won't be Participation Command's turn to chip in people for the airforce GOH contingent. Sian ): I want a no. 1 uniform and perhaps a sword of honour too haha. So much so that the thought of signing on as an officer has crossed my mind; but yeah, I gotta realise I'm just enthu because of the prestigious dressing. Still, you gotta admit that they make the parades even cooler haha.

And yes, the military band. When they play live, it's AWESOME. My favourite piece is Guard of Honour March, which is played when the Colours Party and the GOH contingents march in.


As for BMT POP, I went down to look at Jianda and Qayyum's just to see how my BMT POP looked like. It was pretty okay, being everyone's first parade in public and most importantly it's after an exhausting 24km march. But seeing civilians transformed into SAF personnel, a conscript, a soldier, doing contingent marching kinda makes me feel proud for the guy doing it down there. While he is dying for it to be over, he is constantly thinking about making his line straight, keeping in step, doing a good wheel, and making his drills sharp and precise. A lot of effort to make it look as good as possible, you see.

So yeah, parades are cool x) I'm gonna try to attend a Commissioning Parade. After seeing the videos below, I wanna see it live!

I was browsing through my phone's videos folder and found a few VS videos. One was Mr Low's farewell assembly, one was the band performing its signature piece during Sec 1 Registration last year and one was Speech Day two years back.

I miss VS so much ): the awesome 5th floor parade square, the music of the concert band, the grand display of CCA flags, our favourite Mr Maran and Mr Chia, the wise Mr Siow, the fatherly Mr Low, and THE CLUBROOM, among many things, people and places in VS that I miss. Oh yes, most of all, the Victorian Spirit!

My days in VS have been the most life-changing ones, though they weren't exactly positive experiences. I thought I would have graduated with a bunch of brothers that would continue to be my brothers for life. In the end, I would say my own lack of maturity broke many friendships in early Sec 3. And so I left grad night alone, not staying for an after-party. I only remained for perhaps the last cheering session as a batch and omg it was an a-a-a-awesome one!

But after the euphoria, loneliness set in again. Yeah, and I would remember how people would isolate myself when people joked with me in the manner young 14, 15, 16 year old boys would. I was vulnerable then. When Yun Han told me that I should start a fresh chapter in JC, the world came crashing down on me. Did I waste my once-in-a-lifetime 4-year experience in VS? Whenever I think how my life in VS was compared to other more successful Victorians I would go into a state of depression, blaming myself for all the mistakes I've done, wishing I could go back in time and reverse them.

My lack of maturity and sense of responsibility also led to the downfall of the club. As a stand-in chairman, I failed badly, much worse than my predecessor. After I broke down, I just disappeared. It was in Sec 4 when I began to try to pick myself up and I did sorta wanted to redeem myself. As much as possible, I went back to the clubroom to help the juniors. I was just so glad that they could accept me despite my failure to uphold my responsibility. Whenever I had free time, I would drop by the clubroom. This carried on even after I graduated. At that point, my juniors were my only brothers in VS. I'm proud that they've grown into very mature gentlemen and professionals today and that's why I continue to believe in VS and in the club.

One of the biggest reasons that motivated me to run for President in AJ Photog was my poor performance in Sec 3. I looked at it as another form of redemption and hoped to prove to myself that indeed, Victorians are something more.

Perhaps in my first year of presidency, I was too stubborn and kinda arrogant in the sense that I tried to push my ideas too hard. Yeah that did turn people off somewhat. In the end, we didn't achieve much in the first year. But in the second year, with a stream of projects bombarding our club we seem to be achieving a lot. Yea, we got busy, we got frustrated, but they were done and I must say we bonded through all the late evenings we stayed behind discussing stuff, talking shit, and partying in the darkroom. Oh yeah.

I also got quite an awesome class and a retarded bunch of bros in AJ whom I can talk shit to haha.

Wait, doesn't it sound like my life in AJ was more life-changing than in VS?

Well, I don't think all these great stuff could have happened to me without all the values and lessons in VS. The teachers I had were the best. The ever cool and chill-looking Wong W L, the forever YouTubing Kulandayan Thirunavukarasu, the storyteller R O.

And the principal. Mr Low. I can't praise him enough. Best principal ever. Gets to know practically everyone in the school, esp the upper sec. I salute him. (Trivia: he's a LTC in the SAF the last time I saw him in uniform.)

4C has so many funny and interesting personalities whose comments I always laugh at even if they make fun of me and cause me to feel isolated. Jianzhong, sihao, ahmad, khrisen, mirza, etc etc I think I need a class list haha.

Yeah, all these things make VS awesome. So awesome that VS and her Victorian Spirit has become my life, my philosophy, my pillar of strength.

Yep. I miss VS. A lot. Too much. Sometimes I would even cry or shed a tear if I'm feeling sentimental. Heh.

Once again, it's great to be back at good old VS (: At first when I saw Speech Day was coming, I was kinda excited but then, I became quite hesitant since I knew almost no one there. Sigh. But eventually I decided I would go there to capture another moment of the Victorian Spirit. It's like a fireworks thing, y'know, going to a place just to record beautiful moments. Yeah, the trip there was something like that, except that VS and the Victorian Spirit is way more awesome than fireworks, haha ;)

I was very tempted to join in the crowd and cheer my lungs out like the good old days when the moment came xD But I reserved that excitement for another time. Wanted to get some Victorian cheering on camera.  Yes, the juniors did indeed did it too fast. The cheering now in VS is nothing like those in our time, but it's the spirit that counts, isn't it.

Anyway, saw Wang Kai, Hui Han, Ganesh and Ryan Ng there. I'm proud that they've made it to good schools. I didn't expect Hui Han to talk to me on his own initiative after how he made some of us seniors angry 2 years ago. I expected a hello-and-goodbye when I met him, just like how even though things have cooled Surprised as I was, but I'm happy that we could talk again.

Met the Sec 4s at reception and we talked about the club, how it is now and what we think can be done. Though it's not doing very well at the moment, I still believe there's hope for it. I just feel powerless to deal with the situation right now 'cos of NS taking my time away. Sigh.

Verse 1:
Too many people have the same ideas
Livin' the 9 to 5 life, blinded by their fears
This is a cruel world, gotta take what I can
Surviving but not aspiring to be who I am
Falling into a pattern, and the pieces don't fit
Too many limitations, I just can't take the risk
If I try, I'll fail, It's all I know that exists
The only way I know out, is to fold up and quit

Chorus:
It's always dark before the dawn
But here I stand, a better man
Pause your life, close your eyes, and finally feel it
Wipe your tears, hope is near, so close and vivid
It's always dark before the dawn
But here I stand, a better man
It redefines you, it gets inside you
Every time you try to fight and break through

Verse 2:
Well I'm not losing this fight, I'ma find what's inside
Got the keys in the ignition and I'm dyin' to drive
I'm spillin' out the truth and I ain't tryin' to lie
Somethin' greater gives me hope so I can quit when I die
'Cause the boundaries are broken and I'm not afraid
Stronger now more than ever, I'm no longer in chains
Now there's love in my heart and there's truth in my life
Nothin's holdin' me back so I can finally fly
He wants to live a little, wants to live the dream
Sick of the in-between and the same routine
He hears the notes but so difficult to see
With the rhythm incomplete, he's imprisoned by the beat
Nobody ever sees what lies beneath
It's a sad situation that he can't believe
He's gotta break out now, the walls are so strong
And everything he does, try to right his wrongs
Meditate on the music, stop self-medicating and think
About a better way today, to set himself free

Chorus:
It's always dark before the dawn
But here I stand, a better man
Pause your life, close your eyes, and finally feel it
Wipe your tears, hope is near, so close and vivid
It's always dark before the dawn
But here I stand, a better man
It redefines you, it gets inside you
Every time you try to fight and break through

Verse 3:
Can we change this time?
With this verse? With this Rhyme?
Will I climb? Will I find it just in time?
We need it now more than ever
Constant struggles are severed
Take me away from this place and fly away, fly away
Away from this place and fly away, fly away
Uhh

Outro:
It's always dark before the dawn
Here I stand, a better man

Last night we just had a Passing Out Parade for all the trainees in the unit. Now I'm officially part of the 18th Divisional Air Defence Artillery Battalion, the Divisional Air Defence Group, the Participation Command. WOW. Proud to be wearing my air force beret, because the beret is a nice-looking headdress and air force sounds cool, haha xD Too bad my beret is one size bigger and it's sooo obvious. On Monday I'm gonna buy a new one of the right size. Hopefully I'll look better in it.

Call you quick
But you never really catch me
Who's the trick that is sucking down my pride
You're alone
So baby dont you call me
Ring, ring, ring,
Wasting all my time